Developers from 11 Cities Compete in PayPal's BattleHack

$100,000 prize for the best app that benefits the community.

Like crocuses, hackathons are sprouting through the snow. In PayPal's BattleHack, set for Feb. 22-23 at The LAB Miami, one startup from each of eleven cities -- Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Istanbul, London, Miami, Moscow, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Toronto, and Warsaw -- will win a spot in the finals in November, and a chance at the $100,000 grand prize. The idea is to develop a community-oriented app that incorporates the PayPal API.

In last year's inaugural competition, the top prize was awarded to the team from Moscow who created an app called Donate Now. Second place went to team Tel Aviv for RunPal, an social running app and third place went to team Miami a peer-to-peer lending app, LoanPal.

Using Bluetooth Low Energy technology and PayPal, the Donate Now app allows users to make donations to their chosen causes on the spot using their smartphone or tablet. The app simplifies the proces of giving for users, who can avoid filling in lengthy online forms. The Donate Now team consisted of Sergey Pronin, Alexander Balabna, Bayram Annakov, and Oksana Tretiakova.

“We truly believe that developers can help change the world," said John Lunn, Global Director of PayPal’s Developer Network, in a release. "The goal of our Battle Hack program is to find the best and brightest developers across the globe that could do just that."